Costa Rican Leaf Katydid (Mimetica mortuifolia)
This Costa Rican Leaf Katydid (Mimetica mortuifolia) by RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser for the Meet Your Neighbours global diversity project certainly lives up to its name. Sean says that he has found a few individuals of this species and they all look different. He liked this one in particular with it mimicking the signs of decay on a live leaf.
Read MoreBlinded Sphinx moth (Paonias excaecata)
The Blinded Sphinx moth (Paonias excaecata) has a cool name and an even more radical look. It can appear to be a dead leaf…or a very frightening dead leaf when exposing the “eyes” on the underwings.
Read MoreSnowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis)
The week may be over but we’re going to keep going with the moths! Here’s another diurnal hummingbird moth, the Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). What is it really trying to mimic? Black, yellow…looks like a bee to me.
Read MoreHummingbird Clearwing Moth
As we continue National Moth Week here’s the Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) shot Meet Your Neighbours style. At this point of the summer we always receive a number of inquiries concerning the identity of these tiny mysterious creatures that appear to be miniature hummingbirds zooming around yards and gardens. These insects also visit the flowers that are favored by hummingbirds, quickly stopping for nectar and moving on. Their fast wings can reach 30 beats a second! We tend to think of moths as nocturnal creatures but this member of the Sphinx moth family (Sphingidae) is...
Read MoreGrass Pink Orchid & wasp mimic
Pollinator? Not quite. This is a flower fly of the family Syrphidae sitting on the fake anthers of a Grass Pink Orchid (Calopogon tuberosus var. tuberosus). Orchids have specialized pollinia and don’t have anthers with pollen, like most other flowers. This is a nice case of a trickster (wasp mimic) being tricked…
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